METIN TURAN

 

In Seoul 

We walk as if breathing, quietly in green

Mountain is a long word in Seoul 

Once you arrive at Bukhansan, your steps get bigger with water

You can never take your eyes off the river rising above the horizon

So much so that you fly out of sight.

Evening is like pansori, time expands thoroughly

The flame of love spreads into the night, the stairs are vibrant

From tired footsteps 

Cherry blossom smells on any balcony you go out.

I've bloomed in so many colours

So many times, I've got lost on my way to Yeouido

I had been soaked in yellow, I bloomed red then.

You smelled the Maehwa on an ice-cream cone.

Translated By Betül Küre

Lifetime

I made all my toys myself

From earth, from stone, from wood, from leaves

We whistled and played under the light.

I slept with cats, puppies, goat kids, sheeps

It's true I sang lullabies to wolf cubs

Knitted nipples from wool to feed them.

I was five years old

Once I threw a stone at a crow pecking at chicks.

I missed it, though.

I got a fever. I was green around the gills, off my food.

I cried for three days, my father told me a story, 

I planted seven trees.

I fed the birds with bread

Collected stones from the farms, watered the trees.

I am holding the shadow of my lifetime 

Content and blissed.

Each day I ask myself how to start my day:

Have it own way and smile.

Heat up the sun, until it blooms, smile!

Translated By Betül Küre

The Cold Wind

We are guests of an ancient planet, hush thy voice, 

Verily, the world is going somewhere, the wind is blowing.

As birds brush against a leaf, their wings unfurl

Ripples spread across the water in circles, lifeless fish scatter around

Stars cast their light, and I shiver with cold

Indeed, a part of me gets lost in the depths of the forest.

I run behind a burdened ship

Learning to swim in the river where my heart goes against the tide towards you

And the clouds are swirling above us

With each touch to your hair, my breeze growing, cities overflow with the crowds

You must have sensed I make my way to you, savoring the flowers in such a way

We are humans of an exhausted Agent

Should we rise, we would fall, the storm can be seen in our eyes.

Like the sea and sand are our looks

The waves are frothy with a resounding hue

You warned of their demise if their voices fade

Protect the paleface from the birds

Time is like cool milk 

If your hand touches the streets of your home

Leaves peel off one by one from the trees 

Due to the wind ceaselessly descending throughout the day.

For days on end, the bread comes up cold

Salt has gone stale, water has gone wormy, streets tainted by the grime of petroleum

Loneliness has embraced the neighboring cities, as well

Another gong of the clock will disturb the silence

Like gears stretching the limits of working hours

With a painful voice, newsreaders advise watering the flowers 

Not salt and seaweed, but diesel and weariness exude from the sailors' talks

I am weary

Finding solace in my own breeze in seclusion

My breath is frozen.

Translated By Betül Küre

METIN TURAN

METIN TURAN: He was born in 1966 in Kağızman (Kars-Turkey). He studied technical education, health and economics. His first tale was published in 1981.Turan attended numerous international scientific and artistic meetings in Germany, Romania, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Syria, Bulgaria, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, TRNC, Russia, Nakhichevan, Italy, South Korea, Poland and Turkey. He concentrated his work in the field of folk literature. In 1995, he was honored with the Turkish Folklore Service Award of Folklore Research Institution. He was the folklorist who won this award at the youngest age so far. Metin Turan is the president of KIBATEK (Cyprus, Balkans, Eurasian Turkish Literatures Institution) and Folklore Researchers Foundation. In 2003, he won the first prize “Çalıkalı Spring Festival Turkish World” (in the Republic of Macedonia) and “2004 Ruşen Hakkı Poetry Award”. His poems were translated into Polish, German, Arabic, Bulgarian, Persian, English, Korean, Macedonian, Romanian, Russian, Kurdish, Armenian, Uzbek, Ukrainian and Greek. In addition, his book “KÖROĞLU” was translated into Albanian and Serbian and published in these countries. In 2005 and 2006 he briefly taught Turkish Literature courses and conferences at Kiev National University and between 2007-2011, he gave lectures in folk literature at Yıldız Technical University/Faculty of Arts and Sciences as an academician. Metin Turan took part in the regulatory committee of "History Foundation (Tarih Vakfı)" and "Pertev Naili Boratav Archive". In 1997-98, he worked in the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey; Culture and Art Broadcast Advisory Board and Folk Culture Broadcast Advisory Board. Also, he was a member of the editorial board of “Türk Dünyası” magazine. He is the publishing coordinator of FOLKLOR/EDEBİYAT magazine whose contents are folklore, anthropology, sociology, history, music and literature, and has been published since 1994. In addition, he is the publishing director of KIBATEK (Cyprus, Balkans, Eurasian, Turkish Literatures Institution), which started its activities in 1998, and TURNALAR, an international translation and literary magazine.